Untitled
by Arthur Poutdragon
Summary: For a prompt on the Professor Layton anonmeme that asked for Kristoph and Clive. Kristoph/Clive, implied Kristoph/Klavier and probable Layton/Legal!Luke/Clive. Contains non-con.
1. Chapter 1

They're both in solitary cells, for obvious reasons. The cells are opposite each other, though, and after a while Clive starts to watch the other when he thinks it's not obvious. Neither of them is an unobservant man, however, and Clive knows full well his attentions have been noticed.

Just as he knows full well they're being returned.

He feels Gavin's eyes on him near constantly, and is makes his skin crawl. Not in an entirely... _unpleasant _way, though, he must admit. Finds himself wondering if it's the same for Gavin, when Clive takes to watching him.

He takes to touching himself when the guards aren't there, because he can feel those eyes on him and it's all he can do to hold himself back long enough to put on a show for Kristoph because it turns him on _so much more_ than it really should.

ooo

It's months before they actually speak, given that the point of _solitary _cells is to prevent the inmates from any contact.

Funding cuts affect even this place, however, and ironically enough it's Clive's birthday when management decides that to save money, him and Gavin are to share a cell. They might be kept apart from the rest of the prison populace - Kristoph presumably because of the sway both him and his younger brother hold, and Clive... well, he thinks perhaps inspector Chelmey might have pulled a few strings in his aid - but the staff are reasonably sure neither of them will be a danger to each other.

And even if they do kill each other, what difference does it truly make when neither of them are ever going to leave this place alive anyway? Nothing more than a few extra pages of admin for the staff.

A blond German main joining him in his cell may well be the oddest birthday present Clive has ever received,

...he can't honestly say it's the worst, though.

ooo

Now that they're sharing a cell, the constant watching (and Clive's haphazard fumbling) reaches the logical conclusion, which ends up being Gavin bending him over the bed and taking him hard enough that it's a wonder he doesn't scream, not that he can because there's a _guard_ there and couldn't Kristoph have chosen a better time, it's not as if there's always a guard posted but Kristoph chooses _now_, right _now_ and when he comes Clive has to bite him to keep the noise back and Kristoph just _laughs_, loud enough that Clive almost expects that to be what finally alerts the guard to what they're doing.

If it does, though, nothing is said, and from then on Gavin at least has the decency to wait until there's no guard. In the times between, they talk, and Clive must admit it's a surprise to find (even in this place) someone who can truly challenge him intellectually, whom he also enjoys the company of.

There is only one man who Clive can honestly say has fulfilled both of those criteria before, and even in his most selfish moments Clive could never wish this place on the professor. No matter how Clive wishes to see him, no matter how much he believes it would help the madness.

Layton is too good for this place, and despite what he's done Clive rather thinks Gavin might be, too.

ooo

Clive's not so stupid as to believe the staff don't know what him and Gavin are up to, but the _result of the knowledge does surprise him, truly._

A visitor.

_That man._

He never expects visitors (never _gets _visitors), so when his name is called out along with all the others receiving them Clive is more surprised than he cares to admit. Still embarrassingly taken aback when he actually sees the professor, and he knows Layton sees it.

It's not mentioned, though, and Clive knows full well Layton won't bring it up as soon as he sees the look on the professor's face. The professor is here about something else.

About _Gavin_.

"My boy, I've been hearing some rather disquieting rumors about yourself and one of the other inmates," Layton begins, and Clive's suddenly _angry_, a boiling pot ready to spill over and how _dare_ he, how dare the professor never once visit him and then use his first visit to _lecture_ Clive, call him _my boy_ like Clive is that little apprentice of his and Clive just wants to _scream_. Wants to shout that he's not Luke, no matter the part he might have played. That it's none of Layton's goddamn business who Clive chooses to shag, unless he's offering himself up for conjugal visits.

But, of course, that would be _ungentlemanly._

So instead, Clive simply tells him in no uncertain terms that yes, the rumors are true, that no, he doesn't want to talk about it, that no, it isn't a cry for help or some such nonsense. Leaves out all the anger and the _hurt _at the fact the professor has only bothered to come see him so that he can criticise him.

If Clive had never met Gavin, Layton would just be happy to let him _rot._

"You _do_know what he's done?" Layton asks (somewhat hesitantly) a ways into the conversation, and it's all Clive can do not to laugh in his face.

"Of _course_, professor. Two people cannot be incarcerated in an otherwise solitary area without once bringing up _why_ they are there, no matter how many other intellectual topics they might share knowledge of. It's human nature to be curious about that sort of thing - and if even myself and Gavin can work that out, criminally insane as we are, I worry somewhat for _your_ sanity if the concept is beyond you, Professor." He fixes Layton with an odd look, and then comments, "Besides, it's hardly as if two murders, one attempted murder and that situation with the attorney he got disbarred really adds up to anywhere _near _what I did, is it?"

He leaves before the professor can say another word, asking the guards to escort him back to his cell, and the last thing he sees as he leaves the room is Layton watching him, an oddly sad look on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Clive is sullen when he returns to the cell, snappy and childish and he doesn't _care_ that he's a grown man, that he should be above this, he just wishes Gavin would stop giving him that _look_.

He's in this place to atone for what he did, not to take pity from a murderer. He doesn't say it, though, just gets more and more sullen until he knows full well Gavin's mood has shifted from amusement and pity to irrittation.

What will happen if he continues to push it?

Clive wouldn't care if he died, the staff wouldn't care, and the professor _certainly _wouldn't, beyond perhaps turning up to criticise Clive's poor choices at the funeral. And Gavin would have to dirty his hands.

He always speaks poorly of the murder committed with a bottle. It's so below him, he says, but in this place he wouldn't even be able to have that much, and Clive would love to see his reaction. He'd have to do it with his bare hands and he'd _hate _it and Clive is tempted (so, so tempted) to push it further just to screw with Kristoph.

He doesn't, though. That would be too simple, and no matter how much Clive might want to mess with Kristoph, he won't. Clive doesn't deserve an easy way out, after all he did.

ooo

Nearly eighteen months into Clive's sentence, he's moved into the main prison body. He expects it, really; everyone's forgetting about him, and he supposes that even if Chelmey did pull strings to keep him in solitary, it's hardly going to be an effort for the prison staff to transfer him without Chelmey's notice. Nobody cares about his case any more, and Clive doesn't expect the inspector to drop all his other work to pay attention to what exactly is happening to one of the undoubtedly many convicts he's put away.

He almost wishes for any news from the professor, but there's none. He hasn't seen him since that first meeting, when Layton came to criticise him about his... relations with Gavin.

Clive very nearly _misses _Gavin, but given their previous close quarters, and that Gavin was the only one who Clive had for company, it's only natural. He's sure Gavin must feel the same, no matter how mad the pair of them are. They grew close because there was nobody else to be close to, and Clive missing him is simply a sign that he misses the structure he was used to.

It doesn't _mean_ anything.

ooo

Clive keeps to himself once he's out of solitary, avoids the other inmates and tries to avoid even the staff. They're below him intellectually (only Kristoph was at his level in this godforsaken place), and worst of all they _know _it. Which would be one thing, if they took it as a cue to leave it alone, but it only seems to spur them on.

So if he's beaten up more than the others are, if he's a victim more, if Gavin ends up the first in a long line of men who try to make him scream, well, it's because he's _better_than them.

No matter how it might feel.

ooo

"I hear your little boyfriend is getting thrown out here too," one of them sneers, a few weeks after Clive is transferred, and Clive says nothing.

"Do you think he'll be as tight as you?" the voice prompts, and Clive just bites his tongue. He won't give in, won't say anything, won't give them something to hurt him with, won't show any signs of weakness-

Except that he's so focused on that that he can't concentrate on everything else and when there's a _push_, Clive _screams_ and no no no this is wrong he's not supposed to show any signs of weakness, he's not supposed to _be_ weak but they've won and they _know _now that he's just as pathetic and weak as all the others they've done this to.

No wonder the professor doesn't care enough to visit him.

No wonder his transfer to the main body of the prison was met with mere indifference from Gavin.

...Gavin.

Clive doesn't know _why _he thought of Gavin along with the professor, besides the fact that his... assailant had brought him up. It's a distraction from what's being done to him, though, and Clive always welcomes those.

He hasn't seen Gavin since he left solitary, but he imagines Kristoph will be just the same as the last time. Something about the man had suggested he'd be unchanging no matter what, that he'll stay that way even when he joins the general populace. Clive's half-interested in _why _he's being transferred, though.

Had Gavin had a supply of money keeping him in luxury, than had since run out? Or, the possibility that intrigues Clive more (enough to keep him blank and unresponsive as the other man pulls out and leaves him be for the moment). Has Gavin run out of power, within these walls and outside them?

Not that Clive likes to admit that he feels this way, because despite everything else he may be he hates the thought of being like the _scum _that makes up the general prison inhabitants, but he'd love nothing more than to see Gavin powerless. He knows full well that whatever the others might say, Gavin will never be in the position Clive is in almost constantly since his transfer; there's an air about Gavin, and no matter what they say, none will really mess with him.

But if someone ever did make Kristoph lose his cool, it'd certainly be a sight to see.


	3. Chapter 3

They don't speak at first, when Gavin is moved to the main body of the prison. Clive doesn't want to look as if he's using Gavin as protection from the other inmates, and nor does he want to look as if he's pining for his past lover and incite them to worse humiliations. So he hangs back, makes certain not to look at Gavin more than necessary, and he just wonders, in the back of his mind, whether they're both doing that.

The alternative - that Gavin simply doesn't care whether he's interacting with Clive or not - is actually painful to consider, no matter how stupid Clive tells himself that becoming attached is.

But it's nothing more than him missing solitary, where he was _safe_, he tells himself. He just associates Gavin with solitary, and misses him for that reason - the same reason for any... affection that he might harbor for Layton, because the man reminds him of freedom.

It would all be so much easier, Clive knows, if he hadn't studied Psychology in school.

ooo

Clive's forcible silence continues even after they're put in the same cell, although he does start watching Gavin again. He watches carefully enough to see the reaction to being watched - notes the way that Gavin tends to look mildy irritated, just for a moment, upon first noticing.

Does Gavin find him irritating?

...if he does, _how _irritating? Irritating enough to kill him?

Clive wonders. He remembers toying with it when they were in solitary, remembers deciding against it then, but now... now he's not sure. He'd thought before that he had to live, to atone for what he'd done, but atoning had never meant subjecting himself to all of this.

He thinks, maybe, it'd be okay for him to stop.

So he pushes it, watches Gavin when he knows it's irritating, tries to push him into arguments, sees just how far it'll go before he gets a proper response. Gavin is torturously calm, though; doesn't even bat an eyelid, no matter what tactics Clive uses to screw with him. So, he decides, he'll find _better_ tactics.

ooo

Over the next few days (less than a week, he thinks, though sometimes it's hard to keep track of the days), Clive finds himself watching the other inmates carefully. He watches the way they treat each other, he _listens _when they're using him, and more importantly, he learns. It's not a matter of needing to find out how the others think, how they mess with each other, because frankly he's seen (felt) exactly how they do that, and he hardly thinks it would work on Kristoph. Not least because the man is so much larger than him. Clive rather suspects that Gavin is a great deal more intelligent than him, too, no matter that he gives the impression of being at the same level of Clive.

No, that's not at all what Clive wants to learn from the other inmates. What he wants to learn is what they _know_; there are those who came in after Gavin, those who knew of him before, and they talk. Not often, and it takes watching properly to catch all that they know, but _enough_.

He asks Gavin about Klavier.

And _there_ it is, the reaction he's been hoping for. The devil appears on Gavin's hand, and it flashes out, tightening around Clive's throat. The second hand joins the first soon enough, and he's pretty sure that not struggling is more of a struggle than trying to fight Gavin off would be, but this is what he wanted, he won't fight it no matter how much his body wants it, because what _he _wants is...

-is...

-freedom.


	4. Chapter 4

Clive awakes to the sound of voices. Voices that he _knows_, much as he can't for the life of him place them right now. His neck hurts, and he can't work out _why_.

The reason hits him about the same time as he realises who the voices belong to, and Clive draws in a sharp, painful gasp. Hopes that it's gone unnoticed, but the pause in conversation and the way he can feel eyes on him say otherwise.

"Is 'e awake?" one of the voices says quietly, and Clive isn't sure whether to be amused, irritated or just plain baffled. So long (over a _year_) with no visit, and then when the Professor does finally deign to show his face, he brings _Luke_? Clive supposes he ought to be glad that the Professor's here, but... no matter that it's childish, all he is is _mad_.

For all of the Professor's claims to be a gentleman, is it really all that gentlemanly to leave Clive to _rot _and only turn up when Clive has nearly died? Why is it that the prison staff apparently pay enough attention to stop Gavin from murdering him, but don't care enough to prevent any of the other things his fellow inmates have done to him?

Hasn't he done _enough_?

"So nice of you to finally grace me with your presence again, Professor," he rasps out, not bothering to open his eyes. He's sure Layton will be tutting internally over his lack of politeness, but he doesn't even care. If being a gentleman means being like the Professor (abandoning someone who... someone who _needed_ him), then he's happy _not_to be.

"Now, now," comes the response, careful and quiet. "It's not so simple as I fear that you feel it is, Clive."

That makes _something_ flare up, and Clive jolts upright into a sitting position. "What I _feel_ it is, Layton? You didn't visit me for _over a year_, what am I _supposed_ to feel about it?" The Professor tries to interrupt at this point, but Clive's having none of it. "You appear when I've chosen to do something you disapprove of, so that you can try to change my mind, and I'm sure that given long enough you'd start whining about having me be a _proper gentleman_, but I don't care what you think any more, Layton! It's not as if I have much choice in how my life goes any more, but the choices I _do _make are my own, and it's none of your damn business!"

There's silence.

"So you chose t'let that guy strangle you, Clive?" Luke says after a moment, breaking the silence. The fact that it reigns again as soon as Luke stops talking is apparently answer enough for the Professor, and though he watches Clive for a few moments, his expression suggesting he wants Clive to back down, to stop looking quite so angry (which he _won't_, he's damn well entitled to look just as angry as he feels), after that he ushers Luke out quietly. Leaves.

As always.

ooo

Clive's just staring off into space when Luke returns, alone this time, and settles himself down in the chair beside the bed. Stays quiet at first, watches Clive, then reaches out to touch his shoulder.

And Clive flinches.

He forces himself to calm down immediately afterwards, but it's obvious that Luke caught the flinch, and when Clive colors and bites his lip there's a sharp intake of breath. He doesn't meet Luke's stare, because Luke _knows_, it's obvious, Luke knows and Clive is an _idiot_ for letting his guard down and showing weakness just because he's in the hospital instead of a cell. He was always supposed to stay strong, to act as if he was above all of it, and now _Luke_ of all people knows and the little cockney idiot will tell the Professor because that's all he damn well knows how to do, and the Professor won't _care_ and it'll all be the same, with the added injustice of everyone knowing how pathetic he is. Which is probably why there's silence now, Luke undoubtedly looking at him, _pitying _him. Clive doesn't want pity, whether or not he deserves it - and he doesn't.

He finds himself oddly hurt when Luke stands up, though, much as he'd expected it, and he draws in a quiet breath, as if he'd ever be able to bring himself to ask Luke to stop, to stay.

Luke stops anyway.

"D'you want me t'stay?" he says, and though Clive doesn't answer, Luke gets it. Sits back down, offers to tell Clive what's been going on since they last saw one another, and it starts.

Luke has been living in America with his parents for just over two years now, apparently. This is the first time he's been able to see Layton in person since he left, so he's staying for the summer. Before then, they had been relying on letters to keep in touch, although upon Luke's return to England Layton had apparently admitted to keeping secrets from Luke. Clive snorts at this point; it's typical of the Professor, then, and apparently not restricted to just him but to Luke as well. Luke seems hesitant to reveal what those secrets are, and Clive assumes it's out of fear of disappointing his beloved Professor, much as Luke says otherwise.

He quickly drops the topic of Layton, though.

He's fifteen, now, he informs Clive proudly, turning sixteen in just over two months. It'll be his first birthday away from his parents (although his father has worked on his birthdays before), and though he'll obviously miss them he's glad to have the opportunity to prove his independence. He has to leave a couple days after his birthday in order to get back to America in time for the school term (semester, he corrects himself quickly, and it amuses Clive to see him trying to fit in so much even with that thick cockney accent lingering), but he came here alone, he's doing just fine and will continue to do so for the months he's staying. He'll manage the journey back to America just fine, too, and then perhaps his mam will stop treating him like a baby, he's nearly sixteen and all his friends get much more freedom than him, but his mam reckons that just because the town they're in now isn't the same as London, he'll get himself lost every time he steps outside the house without her or his father.

"It's hardly all that independent for you to be staying with Flora and the Professor though, is it?" Clive drawls, sounding half-asleep (_feeling _half-asleep, much as he truly is making an effort to stay awake and listen) at this point.

"Well, yeh, but 'e's not around all that much, wot with talkin' t'the prison all the t-"

Luke breaks off then, looking guilty, and no matter how Clive tries to wheedle more out of him he won't mention the Professor or the prison again, opting instead to comment on how being left alone with Flora takes more survival skills than independence, given her insistence on trying to cook him every meal, until exhaustion and frustration band together to make Clive give up on the topic. He doesn't tell Luke that he's actually falling asleep, because without Luke blathering on there'll be silence, and in silence Clive has to _think_, which at the current time will serve no purpose other than wresting away any hope of actually reaching sleep.

He thinks Luke notices, though, because the last things he catches, drifting in and out of consciousness before he's finally lost to it are a brief mention of Layton, and then, "...get you out. I promise, an' 'e does too."

He's too tired to think about the implications of that.


	5. Chapter 5

When Clive awakes, it's to a weight on the bed next to him - a weight which, upon further inspection, turns out to be Luke. He's fallen asleep sat on his chair with his top half leaned across the bed, in a position that looks less than comfortable. He appears to have managed just fine so far, though, so Clive isn't inclined to wake him him straight away. Now that he's awake himself, he finds himself trying to remember what Luke had told him last night. There's a part of it that he _knows_ he should remember, that he _knows _is important, but for the life of him, he can't place what exactly it is. He remembers a promise, but the contents of it - or whether it was even a promise to him, or a promise _from _him - are beyond him.

He's distracted from his attempt to remember when Luke stirs, though, and Clive is suddenly very hard-pressed to look as if he's still asleep. He's not sure he wants to explain why he didn't attempt to wake the boy sprawled across his bed. No matter that the reason is entirely innocent (as far as Clive can remember, anyway).

"You en't very good at actin," comes a quiet voice after a few moments, and Clive can't help the slight snort. Indignation and amusement all in one.

"I'll have you know I got an A in Drama," he tells Luke in the most indignant tones he can manage, and the little brat just laughs. Despite himself, though, Clive joins in, and it quickly turns into comfortable conversation, as if they've been friends for years rather than two people who met when one of them pretended to be the other, and haven't seen each other in about two years. They're only silenced when Luke glances at the clock, yelps and exclaims that he was supposed to have been gone half an hour ago.

Clive finds himself feeling unbearably lonely once Luke's gone, all the color and noise drained out of the room so that it's just Clive, alone and half-wishing Gavin had managed to finish the goddamned job.

ooo

There's no more sign of Luke for the few more days that Clive remains in the hospital ward, and he returns to the main body of the prison without another visit.

"Your cell arrangements have been changed," he's told on the way there, "After what Gavin did to you, it was... deemed best that you share with someone who's due for parole soon."

It's an interesting idea, Clive decides once he deciphers the logic. Stick him in a cell with someone who's due for parole, because wanting out of the prison will help encourage them to protect him. Helping prevent the injury of your fellow inmates is bound to look good to the parole board, obviously. It's definitely an interesting idea, yes.

It definitely didn't come from within prison walls.

If the staff had even bothered to change his cell arrangement after Gavin's attempt on his life - and it isn't as if they'd been roomed together, not since the solitary cell - they wouldn't have picked someone on the basis that they were up for parole. The logic is simple, but _clever_, and Clive isn't so naive as to expect _cleverness_from the same staff who allow the inmates to abuse each other as they see fit. No, had it been their decision, they would have placed him with one of the top players within the prison, on the basis that they'd have the status to protect him, and nobody would mess with them just to get at Clive. Never mind the fact that the 'top players' are, by Clive's estimation, all inmates who have had their use of him at some time or another.

So it begs the question - who the hell is manipulating things for him in this way?

ooo

Despite the rooming arrangements, it doesn't take long for Clive to run into Gavin again, cornered in the halls while the staff are busy dealing with a fight. He doesn't say anything at first, just backs Clive up towards the wall and lets him draw his own conclusions, the silence working to scare Clive despite himself. He won't be scared by Gavin, it's not like Gavin can do anything to him that Clive hasn't wanted, but somehow there's something about it that still bothers him, still terrifies him.

"Did you know that there are rumors circulating the general populace about you?" Gavin hisses into his ear once he has Clive pressed to the wall, breath cold against Clive's skin. "They say that someone outside orchestrated your cell transfer."

Clive isn't stupid. He knows there aren't rumors, and he knows that Gavin knows too. It's Gavin that's noticed this, not the rest, but they'll both play along and Clive will act as if he has the answers, even though both of them know that they're as clueless as one another. Together they might come to some conclusion though, and if playing parts is what it takes to hold Gavin's interest for a while and give Clive some idea of what the hell is going on with his own life, then so be it.

"I have friends on the outside, Gavin," he sneers, pushing Gavin off a little (which he _can't_do, except that it's part of Gavin's part to let himself be pushed back), "Like your brother, perhaps? Although Klavier certainly hasn't kept you from being stuck in with the rest of us, has he?"

His face changing, Gavin pushes Clive back against the wall, and though Clive can't see it from here he knows that the devil must be there, or will be soon.

"They say that perhaps you won't be here very much longer." This time, the tone is growling, and it's not all that clear exactly what he means by it.

"And why's that? Does someone intend to break me out, do _they _say, or is it more that someone has designs on my life? I do believe that you of all people should know that the staff are quicker than they look when it comes to preventing the inmates from killing one another."

Despite Clive's forced smugness and disaffected air, Gavin simply eyes him for a few moments, then turns and starts to walk away down the hall, calling back behind himself once he's a little way away.

"They haven't decided yet."

ooo

After a few days, Clive's name gets called along with the others come visiting time.

He can't prevent the relief that shows on his face when he gets through to the visiting area and sees Luke. He'd half-suspected that Layton's influence had prevented Luke from seeing him, or from _wanting _to see him. The fact that Luke is here is... good.

"I didn't think you were going to come back," he admits, watching as Luke frowns and bites his lip.

"Me an' the Professor 'ave been pretty busy, since 'e's gotta talk to all the prison lot," Luke says, and there's something careful about the tone, something oddly calculating about it that he'd never have expected from Luke.

"The Professor has been talking to the prison... staff?" Clive asks, and when Luke nods he continues, "Why would he? It's not as if he's shown any signs of actually caring what happens to me prior to this. If this is just you having guilt-tripped him into pretending to give a damn for the duration of your trip then you can tell him where to-"

"The Professor cares, Clive!" Luke snaps out, interrupting. There are eyes on them, after that outburst, but it doesn't stop Luke. "The 'ole time you've been in 'ere 'e's been trying to get you out! 'e didn't want to tell you, in case it didn't work, but it'll work, I know it. You'll get out of 'ere and I'm comin' back to London for good in a couple years for uni and we can both live with the Professor and you can be 'is assistant just like me and... and..."

Luke trails off there, stopping to catch his breath, but he's said enough. The rest of the meeting is spent coaxing more information out of him, finding out that Layton has spent the past two years working to get Clive out of prison. Inspector Chelmey has been helping, too, albeit with difficulty considering his position, because helping Clive in this way means going against Bill Hawks, and for at least a few more weeks the man is still prime minister. A general election is coming up soon, though, and although Bill Hawks has stayed in power this long, it looks as if the opposition are more widely favored at the moment.

According to Luke, the leader of the opposition is an old friend of the Professor's. An old friend who has promised to (as one of his first acts in power, assuming he gets in) orchestrate a full pardon for Clive. He'll have to attend therapy for at least a year or two after his release, but he'll be _out_.

It's more than Clive ever expected, ever hoped for.

When visiting time is up, Clive grabs Luke's hand for a moment, gasping a little at the contact despite himself, and asks Luke to tell the Professor he wants to see him. Once Luke has agreed to it, Clive isn't even bothered by the way those who didn't get visitors leer at the rest of them when they return. He's getting out. Layton _cares_.

He feels one pair of eyes on him particularly strongly, though, and it doesn't take a genius to identify Gavin as their owner.


End file.
